Action Research Update!

I have been working on my action research project with my supervisor since December. I began by holding a meeting with all third grade teachers. I met with them and explained that I was going to conduct a research and that I was going to need of their help and collaboration. All five third grade teachers agreed to work with me hand in hand. After receiving the third grade teacher’s approval, I scheduled a Parent Night for third grade parents. I sent out flyers a week in advance to make parents aware of this upcoming meeting. I also sent a reminder 3 days before the meeting and the day prior to the meeting. Out of 106 students only 33 parents showed up. I explained in English and in Spanish to the parents. Parents agreed to help their child with fluency at home. They also agreed to sit down, listen, and time their child. With the other parents who did not show up to the meeting, I sent home a detailed and friendly user memo asking for their help at home. I asked for students to bring the memo back signed with the parents consent to help their child at home. I also placed a space below if they wanted to meet with their teacher to discuss the fluency homework to please schedule a conference at their best convenient time or if they wanted me to call them to explain to please write down their phone number. I did attend several conferences with the parents and teachers and made several phone calls. In total it was 56 parents who were aware of the research by attending the meeting, phone call, or conference. The rest of the children brought their papers back signed. I had to bribe the students with a popsicle in order for them to bring the papers signed. For those students who did not bring it back, I made a phone call home to make parents aware of this new homework being sent out and to please return the paper signed with their acknowledgement. I prepared the third grade teachers with the fluency package that was going to be used throughout the research. I gave the teachers the weekly fluency to be sent home with each child and sign in sheets for the parents. The teachers did not have to worry about making copies, I supplied everything for them. I also provided them with a chart to document the words per minute read by each child on Fridays. I picked up the fluency chart and the sign in sheets from the teachers on Friday. I would document in the chart how many of the parents read with their child throughout the week. Some parents read all four days, some read three, some read two and some did not read. I noted how many days of the week the parents signed that they sat down with their child to read. This Friday is the last Friday I pick up this information for my research project. I collected in total 10 weeks. Teachers got used to passing out the fluency passages for homework and timing their students every Friday. They mentioned they will keep up with this routine for the end of the year and begin right away next year. I now have to see the change parent involvement has impacted on the students’ fluency.